Your cart is currently empty!
Category: short stories
-
Horror week #001: For a creepy effect in horror fiction, ZOOM IN!
It’s cinematic, really. To add power to your descriptions and even create a bit of suspense through them, ZOOM IN! Here’s how horror writer Stephen Dobyns does it in his novel, The Church of Dead Girls: Three dead girls in three straight chairs, collapsed against the ropes, heads tilted, their skin papery, their…
-
July 31st post comes early: A Starter for You from Rachael Frey
Ok, I’m getting ready to embark on a 17-HOUR flight to Singapore, so tomorrow’s post is coming, well…tonight. As in just before I leave. As in now. It’ll be short and sweet (maybe not so sweet, but short) because of that, too. Here’s the beginning line to Rachael Frey’s “The Lost Twice Legend,”…
-
A Starter for You from the January, 1921 National Geographic
One of my favorite writing exercises is to take a piece of writing I like, clip a piece of it, and try to continue writing in that author’s style. I also love making something nonfiction into fiction. The selection I’ll ask you to try this with today comes from “The Dream Ship,” a January,…
-
Opening paragraphs #005: SUPER CHALLENGE!
Let’s do a quick review of our look at beginnings in the past four days: Day one: sharp contrast: tough, tough soft Day two: a bit of mystery Day three: 3-line description that ends with a powerful short line Day four: help NOT wanted; hesitation at interaction And now, on day five, we’re…
-
Opening paragraphs #004: Help NOT wanted!
Have you ever been in a situation where you want to help someone, but they don’t want to be helped? Take a look at this opening by Jess Row in “The Call of Blood“: Mornings he finds Mrs. Kang upright in bed, peeling invisible ginger with an invisible knife. She watches her hands with…
-
Opening paragraphs #003: Shake it up!
For day three of our investigation of openings, I thought I’d show you one that is powerful, sarcastic, hilarious, and tragic–all at the same time! Check out the beginning to “Property,” by Elizabeth McCracken: The ad should have said, For rent, six-room hovel. Quarter-filled Mrs. Butterworth’s bottle in living room, sandy sheets throughout, lingering…
-
Writer’s Digest Mystery…Solved! 7th place in Literary Fiction!
Ok, while I had hoped it might rank even higher, my short story, “The High Price of Fish,” won 7th place in the 82nd Writer’s Digest Competition. There were a heavy number of entries, so I’m quite happy about this! I’ve really been concentrating on reading great short fiction writers this year and learning technique…
-
Opening paragraphs #002: Add a bit of mystery!
Let’s jump right into today’s opening paragraph by taking a look at the start of Allegra Goodman’s “La Vita Nuova”: The day her fiance left, Amanda went walking in the Colonial cemetery off Garden Street. The gravestones were so worn that she could hardly read them. They were melting away into the weedy grass.…
-
Opening paragraphs #001: Strength AND vulnerability, at the same time!
For today’s starting paragraph, I decided to go with one that packs quite a punch. First, read how Megan Mayhew Bergman begins “Housewifely Arts”: I am my own housewife, my own breadwinner. I make lunches and change light bulbs. I kiss bruises and kill copperheads from the backyard creek with a steel hoe. I change…
-
Cody Klippenstein #005: A gentle touch with personification…
Is it day five already? Our final day of looking at some of the writing technique Cody Klippenstein uses in “Case Studies in Ascension”? It’s gone by quickly. For today, I decided to end with a tool familiar to most every writer: personification. Let’s read the passage first: Neither Obaa-san nor I have been…